Our Song to War

In the Colombian village of Bojayá, in 2002, FARC guerrillas committed a massacre. In this poetic, visually stunning film, the town emerges as a mysterious place where people sing as they guide the spirits across a mystic river. This death ritual, Novenario, is to ensure that the angry spirits of the dead don’t return—a reconciliation between the world of the living and the lost souls that roamed the Colombian landscape during 50 years of war.

The war may be over, but the past is never far away. Bullets and fear used to fill the night. Years later, a boy tells his friends stories about the skulls left lying around, about the ghost that visited him at his home, and about crocodile men. The beautiful camerawork in Our Song to War offers a glimpse into the collective subconscious. Something terrible happened here that still affects the lives of everyone today, but now the villagers are seeking a new balance. It’s time to transform the memories of war into magic realist stories.